Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Ballina ... Baltic states

Ballina: town and port, north coastal New South Wales, Australia, at the mouth of the Richmond River. Founded (1842-43) as the shipping outlet for the river valley, it was significantly affected by a gold rush in 1860. Proclaimed a town in ...
Ballinasloe: market town and urban district, County Galway, Ireland, on the River Suck and a northerly extension of the Grand Canal. Originally a small settlement beside the medieval castle guarding the important Suck crossing, the town was developed mainly in the ...
Ballinger, Richard A: U.S. secretary of the interior (1909-11) whose anti-conservationist policy contributed to the rift between the conservative and progressive factions in the Republican party.
Balliol Family: built Barnard Castle and was the first of his family to receive lands in Scotland. He fought against David I of Scotland at Northallerton in 1138, and with King Stephen was captured by Matilda at Lincoln in 1141. His son ...
ballista: ancient heavy missile launcher designed to hurl javelins or heavy balls. A smaller ballista was basically a large crossbow fastened to a mount. The huge and complicated Roman ballista, however, was powered by torsion derived from two thick skeins of ...
ballistic pendulum: device for measuring the velocity of a projectile, such as a bullet. A large wooden block suspended by two cords serves as the pendulum bob. When a bullet is fired into the bob, its momentum is transferred to the bob. ...
ballistics: science of the propulsion, flight, and impact of projectiles. It is divided into several disciplines. Internal and external ballistics, respectively, deal with the propulsion and the flight of projectiles. The transition between these two regimes is called intermediate ballistics. Terminal ...
ballistocardiography: graphic recording of the stroke volume of the heart for the purpose of calculating cardiac output. The heartbeat results in motion of the body, which in turn causes movements in a suspended supporting structure, usually a special table or bed ...
ballistospore: in fungi, a spore forcibly propelled from its site. The basidiospores of the mushrooms, produced on the gills and on the walls of the spores, are ballistospores. They are shot from the vertical walls of the fruiting structure and then ...
Ballivian, Lake: predecessor to modern Lake Titicaca, on the Bolivia-Peru border during Pleistocene times (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). Its surface is thought to have been at least 330 feet (100 m) above the present surface of Lake Titicaca. As the lake ...
balloon: large airtight bag filled with hot air or a lighter-than-air gas, such as helium or hydrogen, to provide buoyancy so that it will rise and float in the atmosphere. Transport balloons have a basket or container hung below for passengers ...
balloon fly: any insect of the family Acroceridae (order Diptera), so named because of its swollen abdomen. It is also characterized by an extremely small head and a humped back. Those adults that have a slender proboscis (feeding organ) feed from flowers; ...
balloon framing: framework of a wooden building in which the elements consist of small members nailed together. In balloon framing, the studs (vertical members) extend the full height of the building (usually two stories) from foundation plate to rafter plate, as contrasted ...
balloon vine: (species Cardiospermum halicacabum), woody perennial vine in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) that is native to subtropical and tropical America. It is naturalized and cultivated widely as an ornamental for its white flowers and its nearly globular inflated fruits, which are ...
balloonflower: plant that is the only species of its genus, an East Asian perennial of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). The balloonflower has balloonlike buds that become flaring, five-lobed, bell-shaped flowers with a thick, rubbery texture.
ballooning: unpowered balloon flight in competition or for recreation, a sport that became popular in the 1960s. The balloons used are of plastic, nylon, or polyethylene, and are filled with hydrogen, helium, methane, or hot air.
Ballou, Hosea: American theologian who for more than 50 years was an influential leader in the Universalist church.
ballroom dance: European and American social dancing performed by couples. It includes the standard repertory of dances such as the fox-trot, waltz, polka, and tango as well as various fad dances from the Charleston through the jitterbug, hustle, frug, and disco dancing. ...
Bally: city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. Bally lies just west of the Hooghly River. A part of the Howrah urban agglomeration, it is connected by road and rail with Howrah, Kharagpur, and Burdwan and is a steamer station for ...
Ballycastle: town, Moyle district (established 1973), formerly in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is situated along Ballycastle Bay, opposite Rathlin Island, where Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, is said to have hidden in a cave. Ballycastle is at the mouth of ...
Ballymena: district, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1973 and was formerly in County Antrim. Ballymena borders the districts of Magherafelt to the west, Ballymoney and Moyle to the north, Larne to the east, and Antrim to the south. The desolate ...
Ballymena: town and seat of Ballymena district, Northern Ireland. It lies in the River Main valley 24 miles (40 km) northwest of the city of Belfast. The town is the market centre for the surrounding countryside and has been long known ...
Ballymoney: town, seat, and district (established 1973), formerly within County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The town of Ballymoney, located on the eastern side of the valley on a tributary of the River Bann, was the birthplace of James McKinley, grandfather of the ...
balm: any of several fragrant herbs of the mint family, particularly Melissa officinalis, also called balm gentle, or lemon balm, and cultivated in temperate climates for its fragrant leaves, which are used as a scent in perfumery, as a flavouring in ...
Balmaceda, Jose Manuel: liberal reformer and president of Chile (1886-91) whose conflict with his legislature precipitated a civil war.
Balmain, Pierre: French couturier who founded a fashion house that made his name a byword for elegance during the post-World War II years. His clients included the Duchess of Windsor, the Queen of Belgium, and many of the leading film stars of ...
Balmer, Johann Jakob: Swiss mathematician who discovered a formula basic to the development of atomic theory and the field of atomic spectroscopy.
Balmes, Jaime Luciano: ecclesiastic, political writer, and philosopher whose liberal ideas were strongly opposed by conservative Roman Catholics.
Balmoral Castle: private residence of the British sovereign, on the right bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at 926 feet (282 metres) above sea level. After its acquisition (1852) by Albert, the prince consort (husband of Queen Victoria), the small castle ...
Balnaves, Henry: politician and diplomat who was one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in Scotland.
Balochi: group of tribes speaking the Balochi language and estimated at about 4,800,000 inhabitants in the province of Balochistan in Pakistan and also neighbouring areas of Iran, Afghanistan, Bahrain, and Punjab (India). In Pakistan the Balochi people are divided into two ...
Balochi language: modern Iranian language of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. Balochi speakers live mainly in an area now composed of parts of southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan that was once the historic region of Balochistan. They also live ...
Balochistan: westernmost province of Pakistan. It is bordered by Iran (west), by Afghanistan (northwest), by North-West Frontier and Punjab provinces (northeast and east), by Sindh province (southeast), and by the Arabian Sea (south).
Balodis, Janis: army officer and politician who was a principal figure in the foundation and government of independent Latvia. He was commander in chief of the army and navy in Latvia's war of independence and later was a cabinet member and vice ...
Balon, Jean: ballet dancer whose extraordinarily light, elastic leaps reputedly inspired the ballet term "ballon" used to describe a dancer's ability to ascend without apparent effort and to land smoothly and softly. The ballet term is also thought to derive from the ...
Balqash: city, east-central Kazakhstan. The city is a landing on the northern shore of Lake Balqash. A major centre of nonferrous (copper, predominantly, and molybdenum) metallurgy, it came into being in 1937 in connection with the construction of large copper-smelting works ...
Balquhidder: village, Stirling council area, historic county of Perthshire, Scotland. It lies near the east end of Loch Voil. Balquhidder is famous as the burial place of the outlaw Rob Roy (Robert MacGregor), who died in 1734. His grave and those ...
Balranald: town, southern New South Wales, Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River, near its junction with the Murray. Settled in 1847 and proclaimed a town in 1851, it was an important livestock-ferrying point in the 1860s. Gazetted a municipality in 1882, it ...
balsa: common, fast-growing tropical tree, occurring from southern Mexico to Bolivia, that is noted for its extremely lightweight and light-coloured wood. Balsa has pale bark and, like many tropical trees, has no annual growth rings. It can grow more than 5 ...
balsam: aromatic resinous substance that flows from a plant, either spontaneously or from an incision; it consists of a resin dispersed in benzoic or cinnamic acid esters and is used chiefly in medicinal preparations. Certain of the more aromatic varieties of ...
Balsamon, Theodore: the principal Byzantine legal scholar of the medieval period and patriarch of Antioch (c. 1185-95).
Balsas River: river in south-central Mexico, one of that country's largest rivers. It rises as the Atoyac River at the confluence of the San Martin and Zahuapan rivers in Puebla state and flows southwestward and then westward through Guerrero state, in which ...
Balt: member of a people of the Indo-European linguistic family living on the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea. (The name Balt, coined in the 19th century, is derived from the sea; Aestii was the name given these peoples by the ...
Balthus: reclusive French painter who, in the midst of 20th-century avant-gardism, explored the traditional categories of European painting: the landscape, the still life, the subject painting, and the portrait. He is best known for his controversial depictions of adolescent girls.
Balti: city, northern Moldova, on the Raut (Reut) River. Balti, dating from the 15th century, is a major railway junction and the centre of the rich agricultural Balti Steppe. Most industries are concerned with processing farm produce, notably flour milling, sugar ...
Baltic Entente: mutual-defense pact signed by Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on Sept. 12, 1934, that laid the basis for close cooperation among those states, particularly in foreign affairs. Shortly after World War I, efforts were made to conclude a Baltic defense alliance ...
Baltic languages: group of Indo-European languages that includes modern Latvian and Lithuanian, spoken on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, and the extinct Old Prussian, Yotvingian, Curonian, Selonian, and Semigallian languages. The Baltic languages are more closely related to Slavic, Germanic, ...
Baltic religion: religious beliefs and practices of the Balts, ancient inhabitants of the Baltic region of eastern Europe who spoke languages belonging to the Baltic family of languages.
Baltic Sea: arm of the North Atlantic Ocean, extending northward from the latitude of southern Denmark almost to the Arctic Circle and separating the Scandinavian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe.
Baltic states: northeastern region of Europe containing the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
Baltic states: present-day states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, located on the extreme eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. They are bounded by the sea on the west and north, by Russia on the east, by Belarus on the southeast, and by ...